This page shows
conflicts between the Arab nations (as a group), and Israel. As a
rule, a legal state of war has existed between
Israel and her
Arab enemies since the beginning of the first war in 1948. Egypt
signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, and Jordan made peace
in 1994. The Palestine Authority, headed by Yassir Arafat and his
Al-Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization
negotiated a semi-peace, which, from mid-2000 on, has been
destroyed through the "Al-Aqsa" Intifada violence. Other
Palestinian groups, most notably Hamas, have been at war with
Israel continuously. Although Israel and most Arab nations are
technically in a continuous state of war, unless otherwise noted,
specific outbreaks of fighting are considered to be separate
wars.

Israeli War of
Independence/ "al-Nakba" (The Disaster) (1948-1949)--Upon
independence, Israel was invaded by the armies of six Arab nations:
Egypt, Syria, Transjordan (later Jordan), Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi
Arabia. In addition, local Arab Palestinian forces also fought the
Jewish Israelis.

Qibya Raid
(October, 1951)—Israeli
troops, led by Major Ariel
Sharon
(Israeli Prime Minister 2001-2006) destroyed dozens of buildings
in the West Bank (Jordan) town of Qibya. Civilian deaths
reached 69.

Egyptian Seizure
of the Israeli ship Bat Galim (Summer,
1954)—Egypt seized the Israeli ship Bat Galim as
it attempted to enter the Suez Canal. According to various
international agreements, the Suez Canal is supposed to be
accessible to ships of all nations. This provoked worsening
tensions between Israel and Egypt.

Gaza
Raid (Feb. 28, 1955)—Israeli
forces conducted a raid, a response to repeated guerrilla attacks
and the seizure of an Israeli ship by Egypt, resulted in the
deaths of 51 Egyptian soldiers and 8 Israeli troops. This
raid was the largest of its kind against Arab forces since the end
of the First Arab-Israeli War in 1949.

The
Sinai War
(1956) [Also known as the Suez War]--The invasion and
temporary conquest of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula by Israel, while France
and Great Britain seized the Suez Canal.

Palestinian-Israeli
Conflict
(1960-Present)--Israel faced guerrilla and terrorist warfare from
several Palestinian armies, most of whom united under the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Yassir Arafat. Current fighting
involves Israel against more religiously militant groups such as
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as against Arafat's Palestinian
Authority. (This includes the Palestinian guerrilla warfare against
Israel from the 1960's, original Intifada (1988-1992) and the current
"Al-Aqsa" Intifada (2000-Present), and the West Bank (2004) and Gaza
Invasions (2006) by Israel and the Palestinian suicide and rocket
attacks which prompted those invasions. (See below.)

First
al-Fatah (PLO) Raid (Dec. 31,
1964)—Yassir Arafat’s al-Fatah faction of
the Palestine Liberation Organization conducted its first raid
into Israel from Lebanon.

Israeli-Syrian
Border and Air Battle (Nov. 13,
1964)—Israel and Syria both claimed
sovereignty over several Demilitarized Zones along their
border. These Zones were set up as part of the cease-fire
ending the First Arab-Israeli War. Israel attempted to farm
the land in these Zones, while Syria developed a project to divert
water from the Jordan River, which Israel shared with both Syria
and Jordan. Syrian forces often fired on Israeli tractors
attempting to farm the Zones, while Israel looked for ways to
interrupt the Syrian diversion project. On Nov. 13, 1964,
Syrian forces stationed on the top of the Golan Heights, a plateau
overlooking Israeli territory in the Jordan River valley, fired on
Israeli tractors. Israeli forces returned fire. Syrian
artillery then targeted Israeli civilian villages. Israel
responded with air attacks on Syrian forces. This battle
resulted in 4 Israeli dead and 9 wounded. Syrian losses
included two tanks and machines involved in the diversion project.
One result of this clash was Syria’s accelerated acquisition
of more and better Soviet-made fighter planes. (Oren,
2001).

West Bank
Raids (May 1965)—After
Palestinian guerrilla raids resulting in the deaths of 6 Israelis,
the Israeli military conducted raids on the West Bank towns of
Qalqilya, Shuna and Jenin.

1966—Israel
reported 93 incidents along its borders.

West Bank
Raid (April 30 1966)—Israeli forces destroyed
over two dozen houses in the West Bank town of Rafat, killing 11
civilians. This attack was in response to Palestinian raids
on Israel. Most of these attacks on Israel

West Bank
Raids (1966)—Israeli forces raided the Hebron
area of the West Bank. These raids resulted in 8 civilian
deaths and firefights with the Jordanian Army.

Israeli-Syrian
Air Battle (July 7, 1966)—Responding to the
continued fighting along the border, Israeli planes attacked
Syrian forces, resulting in the loss of one Syrian MiG fighter
plane.

Israeli-Syrian
Air/Sea Battle (Aug. 15, 1966)—After an
Israeli patrol boat ran aground on the eastern shore of the Sea of
Galilee (according to the 1949 cease-fire agreement, Israeli
forces were not supposed to approach within 250 meters of the
eastern shore, which was a Demilitarized Zone), Syrian planes
attacked it. Israel responded, shooting down two MiG
planes.

Samu Raid (West
Bank) (November 13,
1966)—Following a land mine explosion which
killed three Israeli policemen and wounded one, Israel decided to
launch a large retaliatory raid (called Operation Shredder) into
the West Bank, to strike at a Palestinian (al-Fatah) guerrilla
base near Hebron. Designed to show Israeli military
strength, the raiding force consisted of 10 tanks, forty
half-tracks (a troop transportation vehicle) and around 400
soldiers. The force enjoyed air cover from Israeli war
planes. This force destroyed a police station at the town of
Rujm al-Madfa’ and then moved on to the town of
Samu’. As the Israelis demolished houses in Samu’,
a small Jordanian force approached and was ambushed by the
Israelis. This battle resulted in 15 Jordanian dead and 54
wounded. The leader of the Israeli ambush was killed and 10
of his men wounded. Israeli planes chased off the Jordanian
air force, shooting down a Jordanian fighter plane. This
raid also resulted in 3 Arab civilian deaths and 96
wounded.

Besides the large
numbers of casualties (on both sides) from what was supposed to be
a relatively swift and easy raid, Israel suffered diplomatic
setbacks. The United States was quite upset over this large
attack on one of Washington’s few Arab friends (Jordan’s
King Hussein) and at the lack of response to the Syrians, who were
the true sponsors of most Palestinian attacks in Israel.
Riots broke out in Jordan at the seemingly ineffectual response of
the Jordanian military and its apparent inability to protect
Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. The Samu raid
inflamed Arab public opinion in the Middle East and turned out to
be one of the factors leading up to the Six-Day War of
1967.

The
Six-Day War
(1967)--In a rapid pre-emptive attack, Israel crushed the military
forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria and seized large amounts of land
from each. Iraq also participated in the fighting on the Arab
side.

The War of Attrition
(1968-1970)--The War of Attrition was a limited border war fought
between Egypt and Israel in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. It was
initiated by Egypt as a way to recapture the Sinai Peninsula after
losing it to Israel in 1967. A cease-fire in 1970 ended the fighting,
but left the borders unchanged.

The Yom Kippur (Ramadan)
War (1973)--In a surprise attack launched on the Jewish Yom
Kippur holiday (the dates also fell on the Muslim Ramadan holiday),
Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Despite aid from Iraq, the Arab
forces failed to defeat Israel.

Israeli Invasion of
Lebanon (1978)--Operation Litani was the official name of
Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon up to the Litani river. The
invasion was a military success, as the Israeli military expelled the
PLO from Southern Lebanon, where they had created a de facto state
within a state. An international outcry over the invasion forced a
partial Israeli retreat and the creation of a United Nations
patrolled buffer zone between the Arab guerrillas and the Israeli
military. See also The
Israeli-Lebanon Conflict
(1978-Present).

The Israeli Invasion of
Lebanon (1982-1984)--In response to repeated guerrilla attacks by
the PLO, which were launched from South Lebanon, Israel invaded with
the intent of destroying Arafat's forces. Syria, which maintained a
large army in Lebanon, fought Israel and suffered an embarrassing
defeat. See The
Israeli-Lebanon Conflict
(1978-Present).

The Israeli Occupation
of South Lebanon (1984-2000)--As they withdrew from most of
Lebanon seized in the 1982 invasion, Israel held onto a large part of
Southern Lebanon with the aid of the "South Lebanon Army (SLA)," a
militia set up and supported by Israel. This occupation was opposed
by the PLO and other Palestinian groups as an extension of their
long-running conflict with Israel. Also, other militia armies (mostly
Lebanese Muslim groups), such as Hezbollah (supported by Iran and
Syria), stepped up attacks on the Israeli-occupied region as well as
on settlements and military targets in northern Israel. In 2000,
Israel withdrew from Lebanon and the SLA disbanded. See
The
Israeli-Lebanon Conflict
(1978-Present).

The First Intifada
(1987-1993)--Urban uprising against Israeli rule in the West Bank
and Gaza. The Oslo Peace Accords end the Intifada and lead to the
formation of the Palestinian Authority with PLO Chief Yasser Arafat
as the official leader of the Palestininans.

The
Second Persian Gulf War
(1991)--While Israel took no offensive action in this war, Iraq did
launch Scud missiles which struck Israel and almost caused Israel's
intervention in the Gulf War.

The "Al-Aqsa"
Intifada--Urban guerrilla/commando war waged between Israel and
various Palestinian groups, including Hamas. Between September, 2000
and, September, 2007: 4,453 Palestinians and 1,114 Israelis have been
killed due to the escalating violence. (Source on casualties:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2003911771_intifada29.html)

Israeli Air
Strike on Syria (October, 2003)-- Israeli warplanes
hit the Syrian village of Ain al-Saheb, near Damascus.

Israeli Air
Strike on Syria (Sept. 6, 2007)—Israeli
warplanes overflew northern Syria, dropping ordnance on a
(publicly) unknown target. According to both the New York Times
and ABC News, the target was a nuclear facility being built with
North Korean aid and assistance. See War
and Conflict Journal's
article on this attack.

The
Gaza War (2008-2009)--War
between the Palestinian Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Began in December, 2008.

Threat
of an Israeli-Iran War--Scenarios
for a possible Israeli attack on Iran, or an Iranian attack on
Israel. Emphasis on the nuclear threat from Iran.